Hold on to your hiking boots as we take an exhilarating trek with Mitchell Slater, a trailblazing podcaster, captivating storyteller, and an accidental financial mentor. Mitch's profound love for acting, music, and his nostalgic tales from the '60s and '70s provide a delightful backdrop to his fascinating journey. From an actor with a flair for the dramatic to a respected financial advisor, his career transformation is as remarkable as his stories. Get ready for a healthy dose of early Howard Stern, Larry King's wisdom, and a dive into his family's tradition of camping in the Berkshires.
Our journey with Mitch takes us through his childhood memories, obsessions, and personal reflections. He opens up about his passionate infatuation with Tatum O'Neal and his experiences from the Washington School show. His story takes a twist when he decides to run for the Board of Education, leading to collaborations with celebrities like John Fishman, Matt Felix, and Elizabeth Dulles. And who can forget his unforgettable stint on the popular game show, Love Connection?
Mitch's journey is not just about personal growth, but it's also a testament to his dedication towards financial literacy, hard work, and the value of relationships. He shares his invaluable insights on how to 'get financially naked' with your partner and emphasizes the role of coaching in life. As we traverse the rugged terrain of Bruce Springsteen's legacy, Mitch's relationship with his 96-year-old mother, and his love for hiking, you'll realize why every step of this journey is worth taking.
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Hold on to your hiking boots as we take an exhilarating trek with Mitchell Slater, a trailblazing podcaster, captivating storyteller, and an accidental financial mentor. Mitch's profound love for acting, music, and his nostalgic tales from the '60s and '70s provide a delightful backdrop to his fascinating journey. From an actor with a flair for the dramatic to a respected financial advisor, his career transformation is as remarkable as his stories. Get ready for a healthy dose of early Howard Stern, Larry King's wisdom, and a dive into his family's tradition of camping in the Berkshires.
Our journey with Mitch takes us through his childhood memories, obsessions, and personal reflections. He opens up about his passionate infatuation with Tatum O'Neal and his experiences from the Washington School show. His story takes a twist when he decides to run for the Board of Education, leading to collaborations with celebrities like John Fishman, Matt Felix, and Elizabeth Dulles. And who can forget his unforgettable stint on the popular game show, Love Connection?
Mitch's journey is not just about personal growth, but it's also a testament to his dedication towards financial literacy, hard work, and the value of relationships. He shares his invaluable insights on how to 'get financially naked' with your partner and emphasizes the role of coaching in life. As we traverse the rugged terrain of Bruce Springsteen's legacy, Mitch's relationship with his 96-year-old mother, and his love for hiking, you'll realize why every step of this journey is worth taking.
Contribute to the granola bar fund :)
Follow The Journey on Instagram
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Submit Feedback
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Become a Sponsor
Okay, mitch Slater, the man with a fantastic name, are you okay with being recorded on a podcast?
Speaker 2:I am so okay, well, there goes that liability this is.
Speaker 1:I Took a Hike, I'm your host, darren Mass, founder of business therapy group and Parktime Wilderness Philosopher. Here we step out of the boardrooms and home offices and into the great outdoors, where the hustle of entrepreneurship meets the rustle of nature. In this episode, we hike along with Mitchel Slater, a fellow podcaster and inspirational storyteller. Our topics include the upbringing of a thespian in the 60s and 70s, the tales of early Howard Stern, the teachings of Larry King, brilliant advice, connections and the emotions of an ultimate family champion. We are enchanted by the tales and trails. When I took a hike with Mitchel Slater, it wasn't until I embarked on this podcast journey that I realized the impact of problem solving in nature. And now I would like to help you. I invite you or your team to join me on a hike and experience business therapy all while on the trail. Visit itookahikecom for more information on our hiking therapy. All right, and let's begin. Mitch Slater, a person who does live in the same town. I have not ever met you prior, but I have researched you and I found a lot of really cool facts about you.
Speaker 2:But did you vote for me? Maybe you weren't in town.
Speaker 1:I was not in town. You were on the board of Ed.
Speaker 2:Yeah, two terms I served.
Speaker 1:So well then.
Speaker 2:Alcatraz. I served right after that you went to. Alcatraz. No, I'm saying it was like being in Alcatraz at times, but anyway.
Speaker 1:All right, we're going to get into that in a second. Let's just talk a little bit about your background and what you do. Currently. You work for UBS Correct and, more inspirationally, you host the UBS podcast.
Speaker 2:Yes, I started. Actually, I piloted the first advisor podcast at UBS, which, in my industry, was like reinventing the wheel. I'm in an industry that is typically on a 10-year delay, where most places are in a 10-second delay. Now, folks, if I'm panting, cut me a break.
Speaker 1:Wait for my inhaler to work, so I like torturing people. Apparently I've mentioned this before I am a bit of a sadist, especially since I practice hiking quite often. Right, I do like to hear a guest get a little bit hot and heavy with the breath and the breathing. But you'll get it, but I don't want you to die.
Speaker 2:No well, as a matter of fact, I just had an echocardiogram yesterday and I am not going to die.
Speaker 1:Okay, this is 100% certainty. We will not be killing Mitch on this hike. This is a challenging hike Not too challenging, but you have told me you've hiked before.
Speaker 2:I am definitely wouldn't say it's a routine thing. I am much more of a cyclist and lately I prefer the flatter the better, but I do like being outdoors.
Speaker 1:Well, you know what's great for cycling Expanding your ribcage and your lung capacity with a heavy hike, especially when it's going to be 90.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So you will get some extra reps in, all right, so let's go back UBS. You are in an industry that is dinosaur, archaic and it's thinking it doesn't like to move fast, at a fast pace of change, at least when you're entering in new technologies, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think it's steep in tradition.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's steep in tradition. It's not anyone's fault, it's just, I think, the nature of really two industries today financial services and pharma. They just have the C word compliance.
Speaker 1:I was going with can't, but okay.
Speaker 2:And then all of a sudden, the culture goes from no to yes when they find the right people. And I have been a big part of that over 35 years. I have the war wounds to prove it, but that's my personality. I'm somebody who you would call the accidental financial advisor.
Speaker 1:Do you tell?
Speaker 2:Well, that wasn't, that wasn't the goal.
Speaker 1:What did you want to be when you grew up?
Speaker 2:An actor.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, you are very far off.
Speaker 2:No, I am. I am very much on the left brain, creative side. Watched a lot of British television, read a lot of plays, starred in all the high school shows that Jonathan Dayton regional high school go bulldogs. I hated high school but I loved the shows and playing baseball.
Speaker 1:Well, you and I have something in common I did not like high school either.
Speaker 2:I thought that was held back. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Which high school can do for you Right?
Speaker 2:Well, the summers are what kept me going. The summer is growing up in the camp, initially in the Berkshires beautiful Camp Inota, far above Inota's waters, on a mountain side in Pittsfield Mass. You can sing, you all the songs a big tradition in my family, that camp. But even more as I got older, my parents who were incredibly supportive of everything I've ever done, and including my 96 year old mom who said go take that hike today, mitch. Oh wow, we'll get into her. But I loved acting, I loved being on stage. I will tell you that I am more comfortable in life being on a stage, being in front of people, being on TV, radio podcasting, even the producing side, just doing anything creative. That's my jam Tie in music with it, which is a big part of my life, and I'll probably be quoting Bruce Springsteen more than once on this hike for a lot of reasons. We are not going on a downbound train, folks. We are certainly on the rising as we walk.
Speaker 1:Well, there you go, so let's take a quick step back because we're going to actually get into Bruce Springsteen, because I know you had Max Weinberg on your show and, as a drummer, growing up huge fanboy for Max Weinberg.
Speaker 2:Grew up just a few minutes from here.
Speaker 1:This is awesome. I want to hear about that. You mentioned British comedy, so you probably have a little bit of a dry humor with the red light, green light show. Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:One of the four channels I was able to watch when I was growing up, so I get that Monty Python.
Speaker 2:I might go into the ministry of some silly walks here and find some dead parrots, that is quite okay, I will find the humor in that as well.
Speaker 1:So let's take a step back, though. At what point did it change from you wanting to be an actor to going into finance?
Speaker 2:Well, I took a left turn at broadcasting. I studied acting at Northwestern University. Absolutely beautiful, just a great spot.
Speaker 1:That's a fantastic school. My brother went to Northwestern.
Speaker 2:I did a summer program there. I was a cherub. They only accepted 18 boys and 18 girls in this program. You had to go into New York City and audition where I think I did a Merck and Buffalo Pacino. Much to my shock, I got in in a summer of 1977 and people that know me are probably saying, oh Jesus, is he going to talk about that summer again? Yeah, it was incredible for me for a lot of reasons. We'll put aside the summer of 42 references if people understand what that means. But I had the ability for the first time to be around people like me that loved to act.
Speaker 1:Thespians.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Thespians. We did Noel Coward, we did Shakespeare, charles, and Heston was one of the professors.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's when I liked Charles and Heston.
Speaker 1:That changed a little bit later, but anyway, one of your professors was the Charles and Heston. Yeah, he taught there. Head of the NRA.
Speaker 2:Back then not. Obviously not, but yeah, back then I just to me he was Moses and that was about it he would.
Speaker 1:Maybe I should have gone or led with the fact that he was the Plain of the Apes, but still, that's a pretty big name.
Speaker 2:Incredible name and also, as I learned throughout that summer, some of the parents of some of my fellow Thespians, which, when you grew up in Springfield, new Jersey, was not a word that was respected.
Speaker 1:Why is that?
Speaker 2:Oh, it was a very simple thing. You were in the shows. You're gay.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It doesn't matter what you are, and I could care less.
Speaker 1:What year is this?
Speaker 2:Who I am and what I am. I'm a heterosexual married man at 37 years. But who cares?
Speaker 1:Oh, this is the 70s 70s, so things were a little bit different. That's not accepted today.
Speaker 2:Right. Just one of the reasons.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry that thinking is not accepted.
Speaker 2:Oh, not even close. And I had an incredible teacher who grew up not far from here, joe Trinity, who just died recently, around 100, who was an active teacher, who believed in me and really gave me, I think, more of the courage and the skills to feel comfortable about becoming someone else and I think at the end of the end of my days, probably, I'll look back and enjoy the time that I maybe necessarily wasn't Mitch Slater but somebody else.
Speaker 1:Okay, so would you say you were an introvert growing up?
Speaker 2:Deep down. Yes, Everybody that knew me never believed it. They saw me as an extrovert.
Speaker 1:Because you were acting.
Speaker 2:Because I was acting.
Speaker 1:Okay, so this is a common theme with most I won't say all. Most actors are introverted. They stay in their core, they're inside of their shelf and they come out when they're on stage. Correct, Right, so you were able to manipulate that. It's always feeling like or being in the mode where you were on stage.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Great so and a supportive family that I kind of grew up an only child, my sister's 10 years older, my brother's seven years older. My mom refers to me forever as the bonus she uses. Yes, she was an accident. She uses bonus, but accidents the word.
Speaker 1:Don't worry, we all have met someone who's been the accident. But the accident turns out to be great.
Speaker 2:It's the greatest accident of all time. That's your ask her, you ask me. Maybe sometimes I feel that way. Yeah All right.
Speaker 1:So let's let's take a step back to Charlton Heston. What was it like having a professor like Charlton Heston larger than life character figure, influential role model at the time?
Speaker 2:To be fair, he was a very small part of the program. I think it might have been two hours, so I don't want to make that out to be more than it is, so that's a rounding error. Yeah, yeah, and people know me will say you know, there goes Mitch making more of a story than it really was.
Speaker 1:Would you say Mitch made a mountain out of a molehill.
Speaker 2:This would be a good spot to say that, that's for sure.
Speaker 1:All right, this is burning in the back of my mind. You're obviously slightly older than me. I'll say slightly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm 62 and proud.
Speaker 1:You remember the show saved by the bell? Yeah, of course I'll be a Slater hater. There you go. Slater was my favorite.
Speaker 2:He always was Everybody likes Ax Slater. It's funny because that was not with AC Slater.
Speaker 1:AC Slater, right yeah.
Speaker 2:It was not my era. I was already beyond the target audience but obviously was quite aware of it and I have grown. My favorite pictures I have is when I was running for board of ed. My daughter, who was probably in eighth grade at the time, helped me with the campaign, which was one of the most fun things I've ever done, something I never thought I would be involved in, but it was just a lot of fun. And she made these signs Don't be a Slater hater on her own, and I have a great picture of her with a t-shirt that she that we got Don't Be a Slater Hater from the Saved by the Bell bookstore or whatever, and it's a great memory.
Speaker 1:So I would love that reference. I absolutely would have voted for you if I was in town, because Slater was my favorite. I did, obviously. I liked Zach. I had a huge crush on Kelly Kappauski.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm not a common man. I was in my 30s and I did At the risk of embarrassment.
Speaker 1:I was in the Kelly Kappauski fan club. I did write her letters and I did receive postcards back and I know way too much about Kelly Kappauski's character and Tiffany Amber Thieson. I was not obsessed, All right, maybe I was, but I no longer have that passion there's a difference and we'll get into that with Springsteen between passion and obsession.
Speaker 2:But my obsession was Taty Moniel, which dates me a little bit more, wow, okay. So to me Taty Moniel and Christine McNichol in Little Darlings, as well as Taty Moniel in anything she did, except for maybe the drugs and the Michael Jackson stuff.
Speaker 1:I could look past that Was everything.
Speaker 2:But I was in the fan club, I had a signed photograph from her and honestly, she's the one and I've been very, very fortunate I'll explain that for a lot of reasons to meet a lot of my heroes, to have actually had conversations with many and some quality time. She somehow got away from me and unfortunately she had a really bad stroke a few years ago and I'm glad to hear she's doing better.
Speaker 1:Okay, so just quick rewind. You chose wisely. They were very good boyhood romance.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, the Farrah Fawcett poster was up, but it was really Taty Moniel Of course.
Speaker 1:Okay. So we know where you came from. Awesome, okay. So before we go into the podcast that you run and meeting your heroes leveraging a podcast to meet your heroes let's learn a little bit more about you personally. Now you are altruistic. How do I know this? You ran for Board of Ed, which is an absolute nightmare of a role to take on if you are not truly engaged in making a difference. Why? Because you have to deal with the people, and the worst part of the people. You have to deal with parents, and I am one myself. I try not to be vocal, but there have been times where I have been that parent where I will start off saying I don't want to be this guy, but I'm going to be. So how did you get the great idea to say I want to throw my name into this pot and I want to run for BOE?
Speaker 2:Well, I would think a combination of things. First of all, it came to me. I didn't come to it, so I'll get to that story, but I've been involved in my kids' life, all of them, both of them, forever. They're the most important thing in the world to me. They always will be, and I coached every sport. I was involved in anything that surrounded it, including the very infamous Washington School show, which has been around 75 years in Westfield, which is a one-time fundraiser that the elementary school has done, where a parent writes a show, directs it, stars in it, there's a band, it's a whole thing. I did it all for 12 years.
Speaker 1:Are these shows good or are they dog crap?
Speaker 2:Well, I will tell you that the three that I co-wrote were fucking amazing, I mean did other people tell you this or you believe it. No other people believe this one. Okay, great, especially because I took. The show I'm the proudest of was the one where we combined the 70s. It was called Trouble in the 70s and it kind of followed because the year before somebody did Welcome to the 60s, which was more of a hairspray ripoff. But I'm a kid that grew up in the 60s and 70s, so what mattered to me in the 70s? Well, at the end of the day I probably had to push it down to Get Smart, one of my favorite shows of all times, created by Mel Brooks. Woody Allen did a lot of the writing, just an amazing show. I was a Rocky Horror Picture Show guy, okay, and because I love movies and everything, obviously everything from Saturday Night Fever to Grease and Rocky and everything else that occurred in the 70s. So we combined a guy who actually gave up a career to become an actor and is now in LA, john Fishman and myself.
Speaker 1:I know John Fishman. Oh, yeah, so John and the name, unless we're thinking of two different people.
Speaker 2:Well, it's kind of you know, in the Jewish world this is probably a John Fishman around every corner. Yeah, but John Fishman, matt Felix and Elizabeth Dulles and I each got together and we wrote the show and I think we each contributed in our own way. For me, the music was where I could stand out, so I could take Ron Stats You're no Good and make it fit into. Oh, and I also threw in because why not? Dr Evil? Okay so which was the movie at the time. So why not? So I created a character who was sort of half Frankenfrider, half Dr Evil, and then created the characters that would eventually bring them down be Maxwell Smart and Agent 99. And then we put music to it.
Speaker 1:You were playing on the nostalgia vote there, or the nostalgia effect there, and half your audience was obviously aware of who you were portraying.
Speaker 2:The kids may have known a lot of the songs but they didn't know the no, no, no. This show is definitely. The references were there and I of course you know the director made the decision not me but cast me in the lead role, which had me coming down a set of stairs dressed as Travolta, with the white suit, to doing the Saturday night fever dance. So you know, it kicked off in a great way. But, most importantly, we raised a lot of money for the kids. I had a lot of fun. In fact I stayed on beyond the time when my kids were out elementary school. Because I'm into music, I play the keyboards. They needed a band leader. So for five years I ran the band at the end, which was really fun because it was just music and it was just jamming with a bunch of local Westville guys piano organ. You know pretty much keyboards.
Speaker 1:Perfect, yeah, all right. So you're probably going to not like me when I do say this to you, but I wouldn't be me if I didn't speak what I felt and thought I cannot stand Saturday night fever. I think Saturday night fever is the worst movie that was ever put onto onto onto film.
Speaker 2:And I'd agree with you, understand that. I used it because of the cultural reference, not because of the quality of that movie.
Speaker 1:God I think it is as cheesy as it gets. It's ridiculous, it is painful to watch, and if anyone disagrees with me, good, I'll take on that conversation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, no, I'm with you that, that that doesn't even come up.
Speaker 1:I don't get it.
Speaker 2:In a top movie list at all.
Speaker 1:But I guess I have watched Jesus Christ Superstar probably a hundred times and I have no idea why, but I've enjoyed it. I cannot watch Saturday night fever for the life of me. It goes off if I say it.
Speaker 2:Well, same with me, and I'd add La La Land with that too. Yeah, okay, probably the worst film I've ever seen. All right, so you and I are on the same page.
Speaker 1:By the way, how do you feel about this hike?
Speaker 2:I'm having a great time. I think it's. For me so far, the challenge is being that Okay, and you know what? Who knew, three miles from a Friday special, a gobbler and a turkey Joe. There's this beauty and that's the reference folks to the Milburn Deli, if anyone knows New Jersey.
Speaker 1:If you want to have Thanksgiving every day of the week, you can on a sandwich.
Speaker 2:Yes, you can.
Speaker 1:All right. So I agree, this is in your backyard, which is kind of the premise of me really being excited about what we do here is there's hiking everywhere and it's literally in your backyard.
Speaker 2:Shame on me for not knowing about it.
Speaker 1:The exception if you live in a flat country like Idaho, where your only hike is a I guess straight walk.
Speaker 2:Yeah, flat land Picking up potatoes and stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, ok, so back to this. All right, what's your favorite decade? If you had to think back, where would you place yourself nostalgically? 70s, 70s. Why is that?
Speaker 2:I think I became the person I am today. I think that the 60s, as cool as it was, I was nine when Woodstock happened and I was at camp and all the counselors left for a few weeks because Woodstock wasn't far from the Berkshires. But realistically, I came to be who I am in the 70s, where I really started reading more. I really started getting exposed to British comedy, which was so important to me because of my aunt, who was an incredibly influential person in my life, and the girl started liking me by the end of the 70s. Well, that's important. So if I'm going to be realistic, when you grow up in a small town like Springfield, new Jersey, people decide who you are at a certain age. So in sixth grade, if you're the short little fat kid in the shows, I don't care if you are Michael Jordan, ryan Gosling and George Clooney put together. By senior year you're still that short little fat kid, and I was not. When I graduated, I certainly wasn't any of those three, but I was bullied. I was bullied big time. For what reason? I was bullied mostly by a kid who at the time I knew nothing about, turned out obviously a very, very poor family, very difficult to be one of maybe 10 black students in a town with white kids, and he wanted a dollar for me every day. And even though he was probably five inches shorter than me, my friend Jamie Halper and I gave him a buck every day because we were scared of shitless why?
Speaker 1:didn't you fight back?
Speaker 2:Well, I did. At first I just had fear, and that's why you have an older brother and the most influential person in my life, besides, I would say, my parents and, obviously, well, his family. So my brother, jeff, is someone who's always had my back to this day. I've had his as well, but he was taking judo at the time. I think he might have been in high school and got me in this town, here Nuburn, to take some judo lessons, enough to look like I might know what I'm doing and be a badass. So the next time, this man, this boy who's sadly no longer with us, who ironically wound up being a roadie on Springsteen's darkness on the edge of town tour, which is another, story, but weird full circle. Oh, it's amazing. He came up to me, I did one or two little moves, threw him on his back. Within a few days he was over at my house shooting hoops.
Speaker 1:All right, that ended that, so I love this story. You're getting your ass kicked, you're paying this kid $1 a day, you learn to defend yourself, and because the bully most likely had insecurities of his own, especially with what you said being the only minority, one of the only minorities singled him out, so he had to pick on someone else to displace that frustration and anger.
Speaker 2:And I had no idea how terrible this kid's life was.
Speaker 1:I mean, I had no sense of it.
Speaker 2:And of course I told nobody about it other than my brother and your brother gave you sage wisdom.
Speaker 1:Yes, and then you learned one thing Stand up for yourself, exactly Even if you get your ass kicked. You were going to get your ass kicked no matter what, so you might as well give it a shot Right Now. This is advice my father had given me with this bully. His name was Phil. He was picking on me every day, pushing me on the bus, and my dad. I remember sitting at the dinner table, him telling me if you're getting bullied, next time you see Phil, if he comes near you, punch him in the stomach, lay him out. Worst case, he's going to hit you back. Ok, pain, you'll deal with it. So Phil came around. I punched him in the stomach, fell like a sack of potatoes, hit him from ground, started crying in front of me. Right, right, phil was the slightly overweight, very tall kid in second grade.
Speaker 2:So the Biff from the back to the teacher guy yes.
Speaker 1:But he wasn't dumb yeah.
Speaker 2:OK.
Speaker 1:He was taking his insecurity and masking it by being the bully, which is common in the case. Right Next day, principal calls us in the office. Heard you guys fought, shake hands. You're now best friends. And then Phil and I were best friends all throughout elementary school. I love it. That's a great theme. Here's the problem we don't teach that anymore.
Speaker 2:No, that is not acceptable anymore. No, we don't teach that.
Speaker 1:We use our words and I will say, as a parent of daughters great, but one of my daughters was getting picked on and I told her the same thing Next time you get picked on by that boy, drop them. And she did. Principal called me and I told him hey, listener, thanks for hiking along with us, Discover more episodes at hikesokahikecom, or to recommend an adventurous guest, apply to be a sponsor, discover books along the trail, or to simply drop us a line. So let's fast forward a little bit. I think we understand your person, which is cool.
Speaker 2:Can I add something? Sure, not political or anything like that, because I think it's important. I'd like to point this out to people. My life has been a giant pivot and we're on a journey here. We're on a hike and I feel that at the end of my days I know that I may have made a lot of mistakes, but the journey has been worth every part of it, whether it was starting and acting, pivoting into broadcasting, having the most incredible time from age 18 to 25, working for Howard Stern.
Speaker 1:Larry King and Howard Stern. Oh yeah, we were talking about that.
Speaker 2:I was his intern at DC 101. I was his first day there. I was the day he met Robin, as I've said to Gary Delabati, who I've met because of Springsteen. Dude, I had your job but then he said you don't want it and I go. Well, the three homes and what you put up with, it's a balance. All right, so we're coming Now we've got the bridge over the River Quay here.
Speaker 1:We're going to that's a reference. We are going to traverse this mean bridge here. I want you to finish your last thought, though Sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the pivot for me was learning, and I learned this. I learned this when I was 21 years old and I think it's one of the greatest joys of my life and kind of the best blessing that I could say was my time with Larry King.
Speaker 1:Your time with Larry King.
Speaker 2:So Larry King for those who may be young and not know who he was, in my opinion, the greatest interviewer of all time, or at least in the top five.
Speaker 1:I'll give you top five, because you mentioned Howard Stern. In my opinion, howard Stern absolute number one. Do you know why I assume lots of practice?
Speaker 2:Larry King.
Speaker 1:OK, we're talking about this.
Speaker 2:Ok, well, I'll get into that in a minute. All right, but what I learned from Larry King, who took a chance with me because we bonded over sports. He was a guest on Charlie Rose, who I was interning for, this is pre-Charlie Rose problems. Yes, I will say I was the only male intern at the time on his NBC show in DC.
Speaker 1:You were not me to it.
Speaker 2:No, no, he had no interest in me, which was fine, because I had none in him, but anyway.
Speaker 1:But had you, I'll leave it there.
Speaker 2:No, I would not have, and that's why I didn't get into Northwestern University undergrad, which is a whole other story.
Speaker 1:Whoa, whoa, whoa. Clarify that, because that made it sound something very different.
Speaker 2:Well there was a director at. Northwestern who hit on most of the guys there. I did not know that I was one of the few heterosexual young 16, 17-year-olds there, so apparently there was an unwritten law of things happening which I was like ran from. Now I will say my math SATs, which I still think to this day might set the New Jersey low record, had something to do with it. But I know that that director refused to write a letter of reference for me. Because, of that. So, anyway, things happen for a reason.
Speaker 1:Can I ask what your SAT score was, because I'll get the question my wife will love that.
Speaker 2:You asked that question because I am 62 years old, almost 63. I am blessed with an amazing 96-year-old mother, siblings, I love, two incredible children, a wife that is mother freaking, teresa, and I can't get past my SAT scores, ok, so do I know what they are? You're damn right, I know what they are.
Speaker 1:Come on.
Speaker 2:OK.
Speaker 1:I'll tell you mine.
Speaker 2:First time out of the box math, I think was 800 was the top then, right I?
Speaker 1:don't know that Pretty sure.
Speaker 2:So anyway, I never broke 1,000. Let's just put it that way, ok. And I got into GW, which I never would have in today's world, because back then if you wrote the check, you got into GW. But I hated math. I walked out of math class. I would find excuses I had no interest in math, which is really fascinating for someone that's been 35 years as a financial advisor. So people are probably thinking, dude, why did you have a successful 35-year career? Very simple I knew how to communicate and I knew where to get help and I knew where my strengths were and I knew where my weaknesses was and I made sure I had the partners. And my partner, dad my dad for a while and then Ann trainer and Crystal Wilkinson were smarter than me in certain areas and I was able to understand, manage money and not have to make those decisions.
Speaker 1:So you have just summarized everything I stand for In order to be successful in life. It is not your intelligence, it is not what you know, it is your work ethic and how you interact with people. It is finding smart people to surround yourselves by. It is putting in those reps and that extra effort to rise above. It is not your SAT scores, which, in case you're wondering my SAT score, I got a 9-10.
Speaker 2:OK, I think I beat you by 40 points. Ok, and look at us, we're taking a hike on a beautiful day here and we both have pretty damn good lives.
Speaker 1:So I am living proof that tests do not determine the intelligence of many people and the reason why they ruin the intelligence.
Speaker 2:They are part of the political problems in this world. That is right, Because the majority of the people I know that were really good testers that wound up getting into that school and even later in life. There's still companies that want to see what your GPA is, which blows me away.
Speaker 1:Mine did. By the way, I had to volunteer. Do you want to see my GPA? No, I was lucky.
Speaker 2:no one ever cared but my son's in finance and he's a CFA. He's about to start grad school at Cornell. After a really good career of eight years being a manager of other managers, he's going to be his own portfolio manager. He's clearly smarter than I am, but his discipline and I don't know where it came from and hard work that I know where it came from both of us my wife and I clearly shown through. But ultimately the answer to the whole question comes down to three letters that people don't focus on. For most people in life it's R-O-I. In my world it's R-O-R. Now I'm going to put a caveat right there. I learned that from a guest on my show, ted Rubin, who wrote a book called Return on Relationships, who was a phenomenal guy and would probably fly up here to hike with you and you would probably go for 50 miles. He's one of the most fascinating guys, speaks all over the world. Ted talks all kinds of things Great, great guy. But that is the truth, because if you know how to manage not money but expectations, expectations, emotions of people Right, and then manage those relationships, you will be successful, or whatever your definition of success is, one way or another.
Speaker 1:While the AI machine displaces human beings from their positions, it cannot displace or replace human-to-human interaction, relationships and emotions, and if you have a child that is going to be going to college and they're asking, what should I major in, you should absolutely be focusing on careers that require human-to-human intelligence Could do great more. You should be focusing on business, business classes. Yes, you should. Also, if your child is mathematically blessed, understands computing, should absolutely look at computer science, computer engineering, any of those Microprocessing, microengineering, all of that is great. But if you have a child that's saying should I go into liberal arts, direct them into business, direct them into anything that will be psychology related, because AI is coming, it's in your kitchen cooking your dinner already. It's here, it's here. And it's replacing jobs.
Speaker 2:No, and the most important classes that I wish I took more of were psych and philosophy.
Speaker 1:And maybe sociology.
Speaker 2:I made sure I took psych classes, which is obviously paying off, yeah, and I wish I took more, because it was a lot of on-the-job training, certainly as a financial advisor, because talking to people about money is one of the most difficult things in the world.
Speaker 1:It's the most emotionally attached you can get Right in the down market. How many calls do you feel where someone is yelling at you because you put them in the wrong investment?
Speaker 2:But if you had managed the expectations, so they understood the rainy day and they understood why they didn't get a higher return in the up markets but they were protected in the down markets. You don't get as many calls. I'm not saying I was perfect at that.
Speaker 1:It's a long game, but.
Speaker 2:I learned that, I learned that, and that is, I think, really, really critical.
Speaker 1:This is a absolute long game.
Speaker 2:Yeah, as we look at a nice little path up here.
Speaker 1:No, we're taking the harder path. You know, what Are you sweating yet?
Speaker 2:Oh no, I've broken a sweat, I'm drinking some water. How?
Speaker 1:do you feel about this trail? And then we're going to go into some advice.
Speaker 2:Sure, I am absolutely loving it and we'll do everything I can to figure out how I remember it. I'm sure you have a map. Yes, I have a map, because I want to come here with my certainly with my wife. So I believe there's 15 or so trails. There will be 20 steps ahead of me, but that's OK.
Speaker 1:Well, there are 15 or so trails in this one park, so I think you'll find a plethora, as they say, in three of the egos. A plethora of options. All right, so let's pivot a little bit In the episode with Lou Kimball, the retired CEO of. Fulcacher International. He didn't go to college so I didn't ask him this question and I will in a follow-up Do you think it's possible today for somebody like Lou Kimball to have the career that he had without going to college? Is that even a possibility today?
Speaker 2:His career? Probably not, because I think in the right place right time, right drive right hustle. There are certain careers and I'm going to drop another name, sorry folks, but Gary Vaynerchuk a client of mine. I've known Gary V for many years. His wine library is just down the street from here, but most people know him in the social media world. Gary is pretty, really against college, but my feeling is that in certain careers and Lou Kimball is one of them having the education helped him move up the ladder. He would not have had, I think, the opportunities in Europe, for example, and some of the other C-suite positions, without it in today's world.
Speaker 1:He was at the ground floor with the right personality. You hear the drive. You see that this person was poised for success.
Speaker 2:Plus the connections that you make, especially in grad school. Grad school is not about grad school, it's about networking, which, as well as we talked about relationships and everything, networking is everything.
Speaker 1:That is absolutely right. Ok, so we are going to traverse up this hill over here.
Speaker 2:OK.
Speaker 1:Do a loop back, so you're on for the long hike.
Speaker 2:By the way, I'm having a great time.
Speaker 1:All right, great. So now let's move forward into some advice. You are a financial advisor and I was, I was.
Speaker 2:We'll clarify that in a minute.
Speaker 1:So let's one. We're absolutely going to preface this by saying anything we talk about is not real advice, it's guidance and, if you want, you should always validate with whoever you hire or advise as you professionally. So what are some of the challenges you see with investing today?
Speaker 2:Well, I think the challenge starts when kids are young, and I've been fortunate to meet an amazing amount of incredible people Neil Godfrey, who's a good friend of mine. She wrote all the books on kids and money. She was Oprah's person. She's done seminars that we did together on raising financially responsible children. I think she is the Albert Einstein of that world and she says this in every speech and it is so true. Ok, folks mind blown. It is easier for most parents to talk to their kids about sex than it is money, and that is so true. The sex talk, we get it done, but money ho ho, ho. And that's a problem in every relationship husbands, wives, kids, parents, partners. That's a big part of it.
Speaker 1:Why do you think?
Speaker 2:Well, because it's not taught in the schools, and that's the reason I ran for board of education and I helped get financial literacy mandated in the state of New Jersey as an elective. You can't graduate high school in New Jersey. It's not enough, but it's a start.
Speaker 1:So we're talking rich dad, poor dad, stuff. Yeah, if you can't talk to your kids about financial independence, how to invest, take your kids to a bank. Open a bank account, balance a checkbook yes, archaic and antiquated, but the principles matter.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you'd have to get and it works throughout life. I mean, I said this to my daughter and my son, who are both in serious relationships with incredible people that I look forward to having in our family one day soon, except my daughter's boyfriend's a Yankee fan and he knows I'm a meth fan, but we're going to let that go. Spencer, Listen, not everyone can be perfect but there we go, the point which I'll probably forget now, wait a minute. The point of financial literacy, the point of financial literacy and financial education is see, this is a trick. You play on the hike, so you get the 62-year-old guy up here after a while and suddenly the brain wait a minute.
Speaker 1:Raw, real and authentic.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh. The point I was going to make is that it's going to lead to difficulty in marriages. It's going to lead to difficulty in any relationship if you don't have some knowledge of money, finance, investing, insurance, estate planning, financial planning, whatever you want to call it. And what you need to do as a couple to start off is to get financially naked. You got to look at each other because one person has a lot of student loan debt. Well, guess what? So do you? That's yours now, not saying that's a bad thing. I have no problem with people with student loan debt. I admire people that invest in themselves.
Speaker 1:Debt is not always a bad thing. No, not at all, debt's an ugly word, but debt Not. To me it's not. Debt is leverage, yes, and there's plenty of ways to leverage debt in a positive fashion.
Speaker 2:Yes, I know a lot about that. It is very possible.
Speaker 1:In fact, the wealthiest people in the world do this. They will make $1 into three instantly.
Speaker 2:This is how you do it.
Speaker 1:Those are my best clients you take a life insurance vehicle, a whole life vehicle I'm just giving an example. You take a whole life vehicle. You buy that policy with your money. It doesn't actually cost you anything because instead of moving your dollar into the markets, you're moving it over to whole life. Then you take a line of credit against, or loan against, that whole life cash value policy, which is easy to write because it's secure for the debting institution, the debtor, and then you invest that dollar that you got as a loan and then you could take margin against that portfolio you put in it.
Speaker 2:Most importantly, you do your own research, you work with professionals. Everyone's situation is different. There is no cookie cutter on anything when it has to do with finance, that's right. Let's move on to another topic.
Speaker 1:Yes, Sorry, I was just giving an extreme example of how you can turn a dollar into money.
Speaker 2:I'll explain my pivot yeah.
Speaker 1:All right. So the 62-year-old is still alive, which is great.
Speaker 2:He's still got energy, which is great, and feeling better than I felt when we started. That that's right. Well, that's the whole therapeutic process. Oh the endorphins are flying at him with sweat, absolutely.
Speaker 1:We're halfway into our hike, so we've got plenty of topic All right, so let's pivot a little bit further. You're no longer a financial advisor.
Speaker 2:Yeah, technically I have retired as a financial advisor and my partner is running that book of business Deal was constructed. But I've done, as has been the history of my life, done something that no one else has done before. Typically most people in my industry, they retire, maybe take a payout and they go to Florida and play pickleball. Now, please, all you pickleball fans I'm not attacking pickleball Florida, I leave that up to the beholder. I won't go there, but I have got more creativity in me. I have got this burning desire. I'm on fire there's a little Bruce there for you Because I have got to get this stuff out of me, because if I don't get this stuff out of me I'm dead and I've got to get it out one way or another, and currently I'm doing it through peer sharing, taking videos, best practices, helping people with their own podcasts. I started the first podcast at my company, which you know. I brought them the idea with Gary Vaynerchuk. It took five years. Eventually it happened. It's now a success and other advisors all over the world are doing it. So I just think that everyone needs a coach, and I know this fits in well with what you do for a living. I am applauding, but I am, you know, when it comes down to it and some of the principles, if I ever do write that book for me I'm more of a speaker, but it would be about the benefit of having a coach and what my business coach, barbara Kay in Chicago, did for me throughout my career, because I needed somebody to be that wasn't family, that wasn't a friend.
Speaker 1:You want your coach to be an outsider completely that can watch your top-down and basic check.
Speaker 2:But understand your industry, and what made Barbara excellent for me was that she understood our industry. So I think everyone needs a coach, everyone needs a therapist, everyone needs, if not a trainer, some sort of a method for them to be exercising. You would have not heard any of this from the 30-year-old, or even the 40-year-old, mitch Slater. But the older you get, the more it means.
Speaker 1:With what you just said. Business therapist who hikes on a podcast is a pretty good combination.
Speaker 2:I think this is a yeah, I'm going to when I see I actually do have a trainer. When I see her later and I tell her this, she's going to really feel like I cheated on her. But I'm going to say you could have thought of this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, anyone could do anything. It's not copying if you spin it your own way, but yes, I do believe that everybody should have a coach if you want to find the most competitive success.
Speaker 2:I mean, if Tiger Woods needed a coach, if Michael Jordan needed a coach, tom Brady, you know Tom Brady.
Speaker 1:Tom Brady arguably. And I don't care if you like the team or not. Right, I'm a Jets fan, sorry for me forever. It sucks, but I can absolutely definitively say that Tom Brady is the best football player that ever played the game. He is the goats, he is the Michael Jordan. But Tom Brady would be nothing without Bill Belichick.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Right. And Bill Belichick would have been nothing without.
Speaker 1:Bill Parcells. That's right, that is absolutely right. So you and I are on the same page. That's paying it forward. Yeah, by the way, that is the extent of all of my sports knowledge. Oh, ok, we have exhausted it. Hey, listener, thanks for hiking along with us. Discover more episodes at highttoka-hikecom, or to recommend an adventurous guest, apply to be a sponsor, discover books along the trail, or to simply drop us a line.
Speaker 2:All right, so going back to Larry King and Larry King, so yeah listening and curiosity, I think, are specialties that we don't see on any cable channel. You don't really see, there isn't news anymore. I mean, that doesn't exist, other than maybe the written word.
Speaker 1:Well news is a screenplay.
Speaker 2:Right. Right, but when done properly. And there are podcasts in the news genre that I think do a very good job. But in general, I, for me, being able to listen and being zoned in whether I'm walking my dog, whether I'm on a hike, whether I'm driving, doesn't matter what I'm doing. I love to listen and this is an opportunity to just be focused in and listening. So for me, when the opportunity arose to do a podcast, I struggled a little bit with what my theme was going to be, and that's why I admire what you're doing, because you have, out of the box, come out with, I think, one of the coolest themes that certainly that I've seen. Well, I am humbled.
Speaker 1:Well, I've heard.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Well, it just is, and that will get people to listen to the show, but I was fortunate enough throughout my life to have been connected to an incredible amount of people. I also don't care about rejection, so I'll ask anybody any time Embrace rejection, I embrace it Bring it on it's fuel.
Speaker 1:It is fuel Fuel for you to either prove somebody wrong or prove them right, but go in a different direction.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And I worked with publishers and I just asked and when people said, how did you get John Taffer, I asked, how did you get? I mean, the Springsteen Connections? I've worked for a number of years. Max happens to be just an incredible guy. I've known him through a lot of different ways, but it was very humble for me to do that as a live video as well, at Danny Clinch's gallery in Asbury Park, and that was my 100th episode where I took a pause. Stonepony no, we did it at well, right down the street from the Stonepony. It was an incredible gallery. Danny Clinch, who is one of the great rock photographers of today, does all of Eddie Vedder's work, as well as Bruce.
Speaker 1:So you actually, before you go into the next point, you actually brought up two very important bits of advice Don't be afraid to ask. This is a recurring theme that many of the guests have repeated. The reason why they're successful is they were not afraid to ask, because the worst answer you'll get is a no.
Speaker 2:You don't ask, you don't get. This is where I'm going to quote my 96-year-old mother who said to my very talented niece Fanny, who was up and coming chef caterer in North Carolina, when my mom was watching Rachel Ray about seven years ago and Rachel Ray mentioned she was going to do this cookbook competition, she sent a text at 90. My mom also was danced on stage with Sven's aunt Springsteen. She was the face of J-Date.
Speaker 1:That's a whole other episode Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Speaker 2:What? All right, we'll get to that in a minute.
Speaker 1:You can't throw all that out there.
Speaker 2:All right, but the point is she sent a text to my niece Fanny. She sent a text to my niece saying I just saw Rachel Ray's doing this cookbook competition. You should try out Three words.
Speaker 1:You never know.
Speaker 2:You never know. Now flash forward Fanny wins obviously Goes through the whole thing. Thousands of people. They make video. They bring the final five to New York. They narrow it down. They bring in the top chefs in the world to vote. She wins. My mom is in the audience. The video of her with my brother and his wife coming up on the stage was amazing. I was outside the studio when it happened. She said when Rachel Ray asked her how did this happen? And she looked at her grandmother and said you never know.
Speaker 1:You never know.
Speaker 2:And I think that's just three words that mean so much in life. You don't know, you don't ask, you've got to try.
Speaker 1:So for everyone listening, you never know. Don't be afraid to ask. And then the other bit of advice that you mentioned is put in the work. You've got great guests on your show because you put the work in, you didn't give up, you kept that drive going.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I put the work in every episode. I did a lot of research.
Speaker 1:As you know, podcasting is very difficult. Exactly.
Speaker 2:Fortunately I hired someone to do the technical side. That did a great job.
Speaker 1:You hire people to do the jobs that you don't experience because you don't like to start over and learn Exactly. You hire people for their talents.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so I was, we're going down this path here.
Speaker 1:So I want to hear a little bit about your mom, because she sounds like an amazing character.
Speaker 2:She is the my mom. When my dad died in 2009, he was I did fall on a glacier, but I did have a clamp on, so I'm hoping that I'm not going to fall. This is not that bad folks. It's a little wet. I am watching, at least.
Speaker 1:Well, that's how I get you to be so open about conversation is while you're focusing on not slipping down the side of a cliff, you are just spewing out all this great knowledge personal attribute.
Speaker 2:So when my dad passed away I thought my mom would just fall into a hole. Which is unfair of me to think that. But I think a lot of us thought that my wife, who is incredible she had the idea of getting her active so immediately. Every Tuesday night, while I was a board of Ed meeting and my kids were still in school age, she would come over and make dinner because my wife still works time magazine and that would be the night they would close the magazine so she'd be there late. I'd be at board of Ed meetings till God knows what time. My son was old enough so he could handle things he was 15 or whatever but my mom would prepare dinner and bring it over or she'd make it at our house and it gave her something to do. And there is nothing more important. The older your parents get or anyone in your life, that's meaningful. Keep them busy. It means just as much as it does for me today, and why I'm happy to do things like this? Because I need to keep busy, because I don't know what I'll do with myself if I'm not.
Speaker 1:Well, a busy mind continues to learn and your brain, although it's not anatomically a muscle, it's a muscle. You should consider your brain a muscle and if you want to stave off certain elements dementia or Alzheimer's and know this is not medical advice, because there's probably some truth and reality in this. There is some, but you have to stay busy. You have to stay in the pain.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, and that, I think, has been a reason why my mom is 96 and who she is. Healthy life and healthy life. Well, although my mom has a candy drawer that all the kids, grandchildren go to. But my mom has basically lived her life on candy and the wrong food but has unbelievable DNA. Her dad lived to 97. His two sisters, who stayed in Russia when he emigrated by himself at 10, lived to be over 100. So there's some serious, really good genetics there.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, george Burns lived to what 99, smoking multiple cigars a day, exactly All right, so I enjoy your life. That's what comes down to it.
Speaker 2:So when opportunities arise, you have to take them. So back six years ago I'm with Steve Anzant when he was touring on his own with the Disciples of Soul and after the show Steven's having a glass of wine. And I know Steven from a nonprofit, little Kids Rock, which is another guest that you need to talk to, david Wish. We'll talk about that later. It was in Montclair.
Speaker 1:By the way, most people know Steve Anzant from the Sopranos yeah, From his character Sylvio.
Speaker 2:Right and in many ways he is, and he's also a lot of the character in Lilihammer, which was the first successful Netflix series which no one ever saw.
Speaker 1:They should watch he played still amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That was totally believable.
Speaker 2:And he was, and he was Well you know Steven sidetracked for one second, but David Chase came to him with the script and wanted him to be Tony Soprano. Really, Steven said first of all, I've never acted. What the f is wrong with you? What are you? He says I've been watching you on stage, I've seen your videos, I know everything you've done. You are this character. So he says, all right, I'll do a test for it. It was terrible. But Steven said at the test, I know the guy. He's a character actor. He's only been in a few films, but you need to talk to my friend, Jimmy Gandolfini. That's your Tony Soprano, Wow. And David Chase said OK, none of the other characters fit you, but I'm going to write you in as his consigliere. And he wrote him in. And the rest is HBO history, thanks to our mutual friend and former guest of Take A Hike, Shelley Brindle.
Speaker 1:OK, wait. So first of all, that's a fantastic story. That still was the original idea behind what we thought of Tony Soprano and his recommendation that is boom, mind blown.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm arguably one of the best spray-in plays ever. Steven revealed that in his book last year, which is a great, great rock and roll autobiography.
Speaker 1:So let's talk real quick about Shelley. How did Shelley influence Tony Soprano or the Soprano?
Speaker 2:Well, I mean from what I learned more actually on your podcast about Shelley than I ever learned.
Speaker 1:I think most people did.
Speaker 2:She was involved in the sales side and I know she was in some heavy-duty meetings making green lighting Sopranos that's phenomenal, all right.
Speaker 1:So it all circles, but full circle. In this show it's all full circle.
Speaker 2:That's life, man Love it. So I become friendly with Steven thanks to his wife, maureen, who hits me up on Twitter because she likes some of my content and tells me about an organization that she's on the board of called Little Kids Rock, which at the time basically provides musical instruments After the no child left behind ridiculous laws. Back in the early 2000s all of these schools had no music programs, so by raising money they were able to. They're now in thousands and thousands of schools nationwide just cut to the chase. But we do an event every year and they needed an advisory board. I get on the advisory board, she invites me to the first event which they were honoring Steven and at that and that night of course Bruce was up there singing Elvis Costello and the usual Sassai Johnny and I'm bringing clients to this event. Of course. This is a great opportunity for a lot of different things. So I get to know Steven because he directs the production and I have a friend who is really his concigliary, who I kind of knew a little bit but got to know better, and I kind of was able to take a leap of faith, to quote Bruce and get a little closer. Never ask for anything, nor would I, I just enjoyed it and anyway. So Steven is touring well, bruce is not touring with a band and we're in, I think, in the city, and it's after the show and I, you know, I'm a marketing guy, so I had made a video with my mom, which I love doing. I've done a lot of them. So I have a video of her wearing a Steven Van Zandt t-shirt and an album and I put it out on Twitter as a promotion to sell tickets. No one asked me to do it, just did it. Steven sees it. Steven comes up to me after the show. Give me your email. Okay, I got an idea, you're gonna love it. All right, wake up. The next morning. Email came at 2.30 with a script, oh man, and the script is basically my mom introducing little Steven and the disciples of Saul. Two nights later, at the St George's Theater in Staten Island, I don't know 5,000 people and I talked to my siblings and my brother, who's normally very open about everything. So, like, no way mom's gonna do this and I only. I say this out of love because it's become a funny story. I, he, you know, we always talk about it. I go to her. I couldn't even finish showing her the script that she was in. Okay, she had no idea what it was gonna be. I didn't even know to the extent we get out there. Honestly, the video of the rehearsal is better than anything Because he's in full Sylvia mode. He's yelling at the light guy. He's this, the curtain's gotta be closed. He's helping her. He is fantastic. She does it. People you know coming up to her taking selfies. The whole thing goes over well. A couple of days later, I got a call from a neighbor of my mom's who had posted it on Facebook and a casting agent wanted to talk to her.
Speaker 1:Seriously, yeah, Wow, wait, how old is she again.
Speaker 2:She's 96 now.
Speaker 1:She was 90 at the time Night wow.
Speaker 2:She just turned 90.
Speaker 1:And she's full of energy. Full of energy, amazing. I love this.
Speaker 2:So she she gets. I speak to the casting agent and they're representing JDate, which is Jewish dating service.
Speaker 1:I may or may not have frequented that site before meeting my wife, it's okay.
Speaker 2:That's all right. That's how my nephew met his niece, as a matter of fact, perfect. So his niece, his wife Sorry, garrett. So anyway, I take her and they give her a little script and it was like a Woody Allen film. They have all these old Jewish women in a room walking around reading their lines and my daughter, georgia, came with me. Honestly, one of the great moments of my life just watching this and observing, knowing my mom that she was gonna blow every one of these people away. My mom walks into the room, throws down the script, tells her own joke, which some old stupid joke of my grandfather's or something about. She lives in a ranch house and somebody asked her about horses or something you know, whatever it was. Immediately I could see the pictures are taken, the video. I'm like mom, you're gonna get the lead here. The concept of the ad was the old Jewish Yantas are working through the night coding to get the best Jewish boy or Jewish girl for their grandkids.
Speaker 1:Fantastic concept, because that is reality, exactly Okay.
Speaker 2:So it's a print ad. They hire a very, very good photographer whose name escapes me now, who's done a lot of magazine covers, and we go out to Brooklyn to some little studio. They shoot it. She gets the role of lead Yanta, which means she got 2,500 bucks. The others got 500 bucks.
Speaker 1:Okay, is this like a sag minimum? I guess so Okay. Yeah, if it even counts for sag, my mom's out there striking right now with everybody.
Speaker 2:There you go. So she totally nails it, it's fun. Three months later I get it. My brother finds out first because they've been waiting to like when is it gonna be up? When is it gonna be up? And a friend of my brothers who Jamie Farber, who's a music engineer to James Taylor's work incredible guy lives in the city guy grew up with said I'm walking out of my building and who's on the subway stop at B and that's when I realized they were out there.
Speaker 1:That's amazing.
Speaker 2:And I found out. They were not just subway stops, charging stations, they were billboards. They were everywhere and there was a giant billboard you can't escape your mom. No, no, no, and I don't mind it. Okay, back then as a teenager, maybe a little bit, yeah, so as a teenager.
Speaker 1:yes, the plight of running away.
Speaker 2:Right and I take her out to with my wife to Brooklyn, because above Junior's Cheesecake on Atlantic Avenue is one of the biggest billboards there are in New York, which is not far from where Ebbett's Field was years ago, and the video I have of her seeing it the first time. People crossing the street saying wait, that's you going into Junior's, they're buying her lunch and suddenly you know she's this celebrity and it you know, and Stephen, of course, called her Queen Bee. He was sharing it everywhere, so the whole thing went viral. She has friends and I mean this in 30 countries. She gets gifts from people. A woman in the Netherlands sends her birthday cards, makes knits, her tulips you know crazy stuff.
Speaker 1:Do you think that gives her further energy for life continuance?
Speaker 2:Because at 96, there's definitely days where it's like Well, yeah, and we've had a rough couple of months. She's doing good today. She's right this, right now. Very good, she's proud of her boy? I think so.
Speaker 1:I would hope so.
Speaker 2:I think she's yeah. Well, yeah, she is. She's proud of all of her children and her grandchildren. I think that's in her DNA. But Proud Jewish mother, but yeah. So if that's not enough, flash forward two years later Stephen's finishing another tour and it's the final night of the tour at the Paramount and Asbury Park and I know that Bruce is gonna come out and sing three songs with him at the end. Maureen calls me, says listen, stephen wrote this song, soul Dancing, soul Twisting, and we're all gonna come out dressed, you know, like 60s people, you know and twist on stage. Maureen's an actress. She's actually my acting teacher, which is a whole other story, and I want Bea out there. I call my mom. She's a king supermarket buying steak. She'll tell you exactly where she was, and this is of course. They have to talk to my brother. She says oh, she'll never do it. She's like, what do I have to do? I said I'll be over later. Four days later, there she is in Asbury Park. They have a little boa around there. The place is packed because there's always the rumor Bruce is coming, and of course he was that night and my really good friend Rich was backstage because he's kind of Stephen's guy and out comes my mom, you know, second to last song and she's dancing, and they've actually made a DVD of the whole thing. Stephen's producing a few things where she's included. But what she didn't know and I kind of knew but really didn't know is that who, when she gets off stage, comes over to her to help her sit down. But Bruce Springsteen Now.
Speaker 1:I the nicest, most humble human.
Speaker 2:I listened to his interview with Howard Stern which is arguably, which is the best interview Bruce ever did.
Speaker 1:I think it's probably the best interview. Howard Stern yeah, I agree, he has said that.
Speaker 2:That that didn't get nominated for an Emmy, by the way as a crime.
Speaker 1:Well, they made an HBO special. Yeah, it should have been nominated and I think it's arguably one of the best interviews of all time and I know there are some crazy insane interviews out there but, at least in my lifespan, that's the one that I listened to at least five times and watched because it was so. Now I'll admit I'm not the biggest Bruce fan it's not my generation, but I appreciate all musicians and any artist in that sense. But I appreciate the humility of just a person who had to struggle in the beginning, became one of the most well-known, famous musicians and still will stop to say hello to you. In fact, the time he got in trouble he was pulled over for drinking and driving a motorcycle.
Speaker 2:A park ranger saw him have a shot of Tequila with a bunch of fans, which he did almost every day.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:I mean that was just irregular Bruce hanging in Manusquan or Sandy Hook that's just Bruce, that's Joseph.
Speaker 1:We had a park ranger that wanted to make a name for himself.
Speaker 2:Exactly. The whole thing is insane it worked against him obviously. But the irony of this happening because Bruce's Springsteen I've seen him over 300 times it's definitely when people if I were, you know someone's given my eulogy tomorrow. I hope they're talking about me as a father and as a husband and a son, but somehow Springsteen's gonna get in there and they're gonna talk about that and the impact in my life that his music has, the shows have had and everything that surrounds that, because I have such grown up in Jersey just connect to it so beautifully and in some ways, some ways not at all. But my mom grew up. I didn't grow up, watch me grow up with Bruce, bruce, bruce, bruce, bruce, and she became a Bruce fan. I took her to concerts so she, you know, knew the music.
Speaker 1:So you just said, though, that at your eulogy you want the conversations of Bruce. If I'm, hopefully it's a long time in the future. I think after this is said and now your wishes are known, if I'm there, I will.
Speaker 2:We go out much more of this hill but my friend Dave, he's already working on the eulogy.
Speaker 1:That's a fun little thing to have between us, but I think it'll be well known For me, my dying wish, and it's now written in my will and my wife knows and I was keeping it secret. But I might as well let you, and only you, know.
Speaker 2:Okay, no problem.
Speaker 1:I would like, for my procession there to be an armored car following the hearse and a sign that says now you've seen it, because no one's ever seen an armored car following a hearse. I love it. I love it. There you go, Everyone. When I kick the bucket, please. And that's a simple request.
Speaker 2:It's really not a tough request.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you could just rent an armored car, but we'll figure out how it's okay.
Speaker 2:I know police in Westfield Shelly can make it happen.
Speaker 1:There we go.
Speaker 2:Everyone be there, we'll get it. So Bruce comes out and of course my mom had taken her hearing aids out, so she doesn't even remember half of the conversation. There's an incredible photo of the two of them with her face, the shock. Look on her face and you know, the older you get, things get taken away from you. That's just life, right, that's just the way it is, and I am absolutely beyond blessed to have my mother at 96, and we had a rough few months with mostly back issues, but it was a lot of pain and it was difficulty and kind of her will to live kind of went away. It has come back and I hope it stays back. But the reality is just like many people in my life, I'm gonna lose them. Hopefully only the ones older than me ever. But I just consider myself to quote Lou Gerr the luckiest person on the face of the earth that I have had, a mother who I had this entire relationship with. That was really wonderful too as a kid, but went to a whole other level and she's my buddy. We're huge med fans. She watches every inning of med fans. We text during med games, we suffer, we do it all.
Speaker 1:So I would say you're one of a few not many people have that luxury.
Speaker 2:And I don't take it for granted, and I have a 90 year old mother-in-law, so I'm really lucky on both ends. Yeah, you are, your kids are lucky, and that yeah.
Speaker 1:Especially because they get candy from both sides.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:So let's pivot a little bit. I want to go back to Howard Stern. If you may, indulge us on some of that conversation, because I am a huge Howard Stern fan, like many. Politics aside doesn't matter, right, the man is a media genius and, regardless if you hate him, he has had some very important influence on society.
Speaker 2:He's turned people around.
Speaker 1:He's done a great job being a.
Speaker 2:He's relevant.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's very relevant even today longstanding career, fantastic interviewer, fantastic show, and if you think his stuff is garbage, well, as he said, you're going to tune in to hear what he'll say next Right or do next Right. So let's talk about that. What was that like? So?
Speaker 2:for me here. I am working at DC 101, the top rock and roll station when he started, which was his second station.
Speaker 1:He started in Detroit.
Speaker 2:That's right. That's right. And they fire the morning guy on Friday. I'd been there for a few months. I was having a great time. I was driving their Model T giving away spring steam tickets to girls all over the place. It was a fun thing to be 20 and doing this gig, Sure. So they tell me, listen, this guy's starting on Monday. We think he's a little crazy. We don't really know. Oh, he was, so just be there. There's any problem. Call this number. You know we'll do our best to get in early, but I know you're going to be the only one there when he gets there. So that Monday morning in 1981, I believe it was about four weeks before Reagan was shot, so I think it was like late February, early March, and in comes this tall, lanky guy, hell on wheels.
Speaker 1:Big hair.
Speaker 2:Big hair, big nose. Where's the studio Over here, mr Stern? Who are you? My name is Mitch. I'm the intern. He goes great. You're now boy Mitch. Get in there and put the cans on. I'm like Mr Stern. I was told by the general manager that I don't have the correct licenses in order to go on the air. He goes bullshit. Get in that other studio Like. Yes, mr Stern. I don't know what made me do it, the rebel in me. I went in the other studio. He goes on the air.
Speaker 1:Charisma, his charisma.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he goes on the air Suddenly. I'm listening. There's sounds of dinosaurs and all kinds of animals. Our boy, mitch, is out on the beltway. He doesn't even know what the hell the beltway is. He just learned something called the beltway in Washington Mitch what's going on with the traffic?
Speaker 1:I think I remember this.
Speaker 2:And I went with it.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I'm just having fun doing it. It was, you know, top five experiences in my life and I'm 20 years old. Oh my God, an incredible moment. At the time, I didn't realize how incredible it would turn out to be.
Speaker 1:I mean, if I ever Well, did you know or have a feeling that this was a star in the making? Or were you just like this and crazy? Not the first day?
Speaker 2:Not the first day, but after a few weeks. I knew this guy was unlike any one that I had ever listened to on radio or experienced, and there was something special or personalities you've ever experienced. Yeah Right, I knew that Washington DC was the wrong city for him.
Speaker 1:Could tell you that Way too conservative. He went to WNBC with Pig Vomit.
Speaker 2:So while I'm there, he's yelling.
Speaker 1:Can you tell I practiced that yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's great, that's great. Played by Paul Giamatti in a movie. Fantastic actor, one of the best. So A few weeks in he's miserable. They won't let him bring in his friend Fred. You know who he was working with at the other stations. We have no money, they said. But you know what? We're going to hire you a newswoman. She's at a Baltimore. We think she's going to be the perfect person for you to work with. And in walks a woman at the time, maybe five feet one and she goes in the studio and I see, for the first few minutes she's just like looking at him, like looking at him. And then she did the same thing, she just played along, and that chemistry between Howard and Robin began that day and never went away.
Speaker 1:And feel strong today.
Speaker 2:And I, you know, I consider myself very lucky that these things happen.
Speaker 1:I mean, I I said this around you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I said to myself. I said to myself how often do you talk to yourself a lot Anyway well, the inner voice right. I've said to many people, if I ever did write a book, it would be called so close because, a I was Howard Stern's intern, I could have moved on in that role. B I went to college with Alec Baldwin. That's a whole other story. That long Island boy, yep, we can talk about. C I worked with Charlie Rose before he hit it big. Of course it he fell from grace, but I could have been there. Then Larry King I'm with him on the number one radio show in the country, but I wasn't with him when CNN happened. And you know I've had these things happen where you know. You know, maybe a move a little bit left to right those things might have gone differently. But you know what, darren, I don't have a regret at all about it. I am so happy that these things happen to me and maybe I peaked a little in my early twenties with some of these things happening and I lived in LA and worked in TV. I was on a game show called love connection where I got picked by the audience.
Speaker 1:I remember love connection.
Speaker 2:I had the video to prove that.
Speaker 1:Chuck Wollery.
Speaker 2:Yeah, wollery, back in two and two. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Talk about the quintessential game show host. Yeah, he was perfect, yep Perfect.
Speaker 2:Well, I had been working on a game show with Peter Marshall that was canceled and I went to interview for a job and they made a tape of me talking about who's the perfect girl or whatever. I didn't think anything about it.
Speaker 1:Wait, just a preference canceled meaning the show didn't make, it not canceled as in today's terms.
Speaker 2:No, I mean canceled, because it was on opposite general hospital during the Luke and Laura Peacures.
Speaker 1:You were not meeting general hospital?
Speaker 2:No, and it was with Peter Marshall, Leslie Uggums. It was a stupid show, but it was a fun experience, like everything. So I wind up six months later getting a call from this young woman saying 57% of the audience wants us to go on a date. Watch the show tomorrow. It happened to be the Friday after Thanksgiving. The whole world saw it and we went out on a date. We dated for a few months and years later I had the video and she's a Facebook friend and it's a great story. I probably posted way too much, but again, I was there. I was there when Reagan was shot. I literally was at the Washington Hilton. It was a little bit of the where's Waldo or the Zeleg in my life that I'm there at the Washington Hilton. I run. I have credentials to get into GW hospital because of Alec Baldwin. I mean, you can't make that up. I get in there and Sam Donaldson's doing his reports and I'm a wannabe TV guy. Let's talk about a face. So I'm walking back and forth, and back and forth, and I'm on camera, my grandfather's taking pictures. Years later, abc puts out something called the day it happened. So I have video of me, at 21 years old, with a lot of hair and a striped shirt, walking back and forth. I just happened to be at these places when these things happened.
Speaker 1:So you've been the right place, right timer, as you say, so close, but no regrets.
Speaker 2:No regrets, because every one of these things I made happen myself. Nobody helped me with maybe a couple things.
Speaker 1:So you would define luck as putting yourself in the right situation to create that 100% Okay. So pivot just slightly. As you know, on all episodes. I ask do you believe that you are successful?
Speaker 2:So I knew this was coming, because I cheated and I've listened to your other shows.
Speaker 1:It's not cheating. It's called research, I think, larry King.
Speaker 2:Exactly. So I'm going to put it a couple of ways. Yes, I consider myself successful and, as corny as it sounds, the reason I consider my successful is my 30 year old son, harrison, and my 26 year old daughter, georgia, who have grown up to be family oriented, civic minded, caring, hardworking, good people. Whether they make enough money in life, whether anything else, I have no control over it, but I feel that success of having two children like that which obviously I probably go, 70% to my wife, 30 to me Our joke is someone had to raise the kids when you were a Bruce, but I think I played a decent part, so my success comes from that. But when I thought about it more, I went back to probably my favorite or top three TV shows of all time Mad Men, and the words came out of Don Draper's mouth that Matt Wiener wrote and it was about happiness and what is happiness? Happiness is the moment after you have happiness and you look for more happiness. Success is sort of the same thing. It's like you're always searching for it. I finally feel now in my 60s that maybe I don't need to search anymore. It's just in front of me. I just have to open my eyes and pay attention and stop being so damn self absorbed which I am. I am the first to admit it. Someone recently made a comment to me someone I value about a Facebook post, because I tend to always have a story when someone dies. Oh, I met them there. I did that. This person who I value said you know what? I don't know why you do that. I thought about it and it came down to insecurity. That's a hard thing to admit and a hard thing to say out loud. We're all insecure about something that's insecurity, and that's something I'd like to change, and I would like to have enough confidence that I don't need to tell everybody. Now, here we're on a podcast and I'm spewing my life story to you, but it's sort of the right environment to do that in.
Speaker 1:Well, this is a therapeutic podcast.
Speaker 2:Do you feel?
Speaker 1:like this is therapeutic.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I'm canceling my therapy tomorrow.
Speaker 1:So you're insecure about?
Speaker 2:what so? I suffered for many years from and you've mentioned this on your show the Imposter Syndrome.
Speaker 1:That's most successful. People just suffer from that, and that's what keeps you motivated.
Speaker 2:When I got successful in a business that made absolutely no sense to me that I would be successful in. I really, really struggled. I felt like I didn't belong. I felt like I wasn't deserving. I probably made bad choices, not in the job, but I had choices, maybe with my own money, because I bought into my own BS a little bit too much more of that insecurity that I'm putting out there, meaning you self-funded bad ideas. Yeah, probably.
Speaker 1:Okay, who else is going to invest in you other than you?
Speaker 2:Yeah well, bad ideas. Or investing in things that I just like. Investing in a movie because I knew the guy from college. I thought it was a cool idea.
Speaker 1:Ah, the dangers of investing in friends and family. They play on the heartstrings, so something to be cautious about. It is okay to say to a friend or family member because you are a friend or family member, I am not comfortable making the right decision. You can give a small amount, but if you are going to invest, make sure it will not hurt you if you do lose it.
Speaker 2:And that is the prudent answer. And when you do what I did for a living I go back to one of my other favorite movies, almost famous you start thinking you're a golden god. Like I said, the older I get, the more these things hit me in the face. And again, I'm not looking at the Grim Reaper, I'm not thinking about that. But I knew a few years ago that I wanted to do something different with my life. I wanted a third chapter. I loved being an advisor, I loved working with the wonderful relationships of the people that I helped over the years, but I needed to be back in doing something creative. And what I'm doing now I love. Whether it's something I'll do forever, I don't know.
Speaker 1:I may pivot again, but Well, Chancellor Jack, from the conversation we've had and I really had, and a business coach gave me the guts to do it. Yeah Well, a coach will always bring the best out of you and help you get over some of those insecurities and fears and doubts. But, not having met you in the past, this is our first real conversation, right, even though we live in the same town and probably are in similar circles right, I would say that you are extremely successful when it comes to your life experiences. Might not be in wealth I'm sure you've made some really great moves. That's fine but, as you know, success is not wealth. No, it's not Because there are plenty of wealthy people sitting on a sofa right now in their house, and that's basically their debt.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Right, that's not fun and exciting. No, you have hung out with the best, have the greatest stories. I'm sitting here intently paying attention, listening, because I'm fascinated by all of these stories you have and in a way, you've portrayed a great picture where I am with you. And to tie this back to what you were talking about before auditory learning, the reason why I have chosen for I Took a Hike to be an auditory podcast is because when you are listening to something and you are intently involved and it's between your two ears, your brain wanders to the visual you want it to be. In fact, you take it a step further and put yourself in that situation and believe it. Hey, listener, thanks for hiking along with us. Discover more episodes at italkahikecom, or to recommend an adventurous guest, try to be a sponsor, discover books along the trail or to simply drop us a line. So that's why I'm listening to your stories and I feel like I met Stevie Van Zandt. I feel like I was in the room with your mom when she was coming up with the Yenta story for J-Day, and the audience is hearing that as well. This is the most powerful medium there is and that's why you have been a great guest. You have fantastic stories. I love what you have to say and I love this episode.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:So let's go one step further. As you know, this one is coming. What is your definition of success?
Speaker 2:Like I said earlier, I knew it was coming and I'm still struggling because I'm not sure I've been there yet. I feel like my journey isn't over. I feel like my definition of success in my 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and now 60s is extremely different. It went from wanting to be an actor in my 20s. In my 30s it would be making enough money to buy a house. In my 40s, making enough money to pay for my kids' college. In my 50s it's probably being thought of positively by my peers, and now in my 60s, for me it all comes back to family. My definition of success is being able to surround myself with people I respect, people I admire, people I can learn from and people that I can trust enough to tell me when I'm wrong and I'm wrong a lot I'm human, so that's today's definition.
Speaker 1:I love that definition and, yes, we're all wrong a lot. I'm wrong a lot as well. We always have something that's wrong, whether or not we argue the opposite. It's a different story. That's personal.
Speaker 2:I would add one story to this. That is not a celebrity story, but if you were to ask me what was the greatest accomplishment in your life, by the way that was coming.
Speaker 1:So, yes, I guess we can segue what was the greatest accomplishment in your life and that's going to be followed by what was your biggest regret.
Speaker 2:Okay, I got those. The greatest accomplishment for me was to take the person who really made me who I am and this is nothing against my parents, but I had an incredible aunt. Very talented woman, was a writer for Steve Allen, she wrote Broadway, she got me really into reading books, to watching really the great movies, to really watching Channel 13, which eventually became BBC, and she believed in me and maybe she was just a doting aunt, but she believed in me. She believed in all of her nieces and nephews, who she treated as children really more than anyone I think ever did. And suddenly in 2006, at age 83, she got the horrible diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.
Speaker 1:Oh sorry.
Speaker 2:With. You know, you've got four to six months to live. And I went over to my parents' house, I think with Leslie, with my wife, I'm not sure and I sat them down and I said I talked to Leslie about this. I said, leslie and I want to take a net to London as soon as possible. My dad yes, my brother takes after my dad. She'll never go, she'll never do that, okay. My mother also, oh, my god, she's. You know, she's gonna be sick, it's not gonna be good. So I thought about it, I looked into what we could do to make it as first class as possible that I could afford and make her feel special and show her the Things that she's dreamt of her whole life. Okay, and we made it happen. And around Memorial Day that year, you know, she initially said maybe, and I just went and bought the plane tickets and made the arrangements and for five days her health wasn't great but she got to, you know, to the West End to see Billy Elliot and see a play. She got to go to Buckingham Palace. We had an incredible tour guide, amazing, who took us all over. She got to see family member of her pen pal and the joy that I get very emotional about this, the joy that that Brought me and my wife, which we memorialized in a really nice book with photos. The saddest thing is I never gave her the book of photos. She died. We got back Sunday. She died Thursday.
Speaker 1:But she died with seeing something that she would not have she clearly had.
Speaker 2:Whatever it is inside of people that gives them that last push in life and and and some say she did it because of you, mitchell, she didn't want to let you down. I don't, I don't like that. I I prefer that this was something that she wanted in her life and fortunately, somebody in the family Knew that and benefited enough from it. Because I'm who, I am a lot For good or for bad, because of Annette, and I think my brother and sister feel the same way for a lot of reasons, as my oldest niece, who was born when I was 16, who experienced it, and my kids when they were very little. You know, I think she, she knew that, I Mean she knew the end was near and and she got back. In fact, we almost didn't get on the plane Somehow. They, she said she must have said the C word and they weren't gonna put her on the plane. She looked terrible got her on the plane. Yeah, I got home. I Called my mom. I said I think we should go to the hospital. Yeah and you know, and, and I sat, my brother and I sat with her as she took her last breath four days later, and I am more proud of that moment in my life than anything, because when you can do something so self selfless For someone that means so much to you, yeah, that is really your, is who you are, and I can't tell the damn story without being emotional, even 17 years later.
Speaker 1:but well, no, it's, it's a real story for you.
Speaker 2:So well, it's a real story and I deny your emotions right, and I and I and in talking about insecurity and in talking about making mistakes, and you know Sinatra regrets I have a few. You know too few to mention, but I have, I have a lot of regrets and, and and I. But I don't regret this and and and. I know that at the end of the day hey, you know when your funeral is being led by the armored car.
Speaker 1:That's also because I'm a jackass.
Speaker 2:I hope someone tells this story, because that's really who I am, although I it's that old joke is. You know I'm not a doctor, but I play one on television.
Speaker 1:Damn it, jim.
Speaker 2:So in many ways I don't really know who I am. That I'm not saying I'm civil and I'm, you know, I've got you know schizophrenia or a lot of personalities. But I get confused sometimes with who I am because there are a lot of people I want to be. But in that moment, in that time in my life, I Was the person that I was intended to be and the reason that the accident or the bonus happened. Hmm on a cruise in middle of 1959 somewhere in the Bahamas.
Speaker 1:Okay, hopefully you don't get more of that story, that's all I need to know. So that is extremely touching and I love it. I love it for all the reasons that you're a human and you don't deny your emotions. Right, and when you were growing up, men don't cry. That was the anthem. Today, it's quite the opposite. Right, men, do whatever you want to do and need to do, and we don't deny our emotions. And that's why getting out in nature, talking about the past, talking about big influences, successes, regrets, your life stories, and being honest with yourself, openly, with seemingly a perfect stranger, can be extremely therapeutic. And I think the difference you made, not only in your aunt's life but to those around you that got to witness what true kindness and Without ego Really means. That meant a lot to more than just you. It meant a lot to your entire family and those that are surrounded by you and those that listen to this, this legendary story, this tale of reality, of Just being a perfect human in a moment of someone else's need and time. So, mitch, with that being said, well, most people went to work today. You went to hustle. I Appreciate you, I appreciate your stories and I hope you found some therapy today.
Speaker 2:Darren, this was the best therapy I could have. I love being outdoors. I learned that I'm not hiking enough and I'm gonna want to do more of this, and I, I appreciate that you gave me the forum, the opportunity that we had this beautiful day. As it turned out to be. It's gonna be a lot hotter later, so we were fortunate, but I, I thank you for for creating this, and I and I sincerely mean that, because I'm advising people on podcast a lot now and your idea is definitely the most novel, creative one that I've heard, and I, I, I know that one day, maybe in four or five years, when Wondery or someone Spotify buys, buys this for hundreds of millions of dollars, oh geez, I'm gonna say God, you think they'll play episode 10.
Speaker 1:Or whatever this is. Well, I am extremely humbled. I will tell you that this is my own therapy and this is my form of journaling, as you probably heard me say before. I'm not doing this for me at this point. I'm doing this for we. Something I practice and I preach when I'm coaching is there is no me anymore. This is we. This is your legendary story. This is your legacy. Your kids are gonna hear this.
Speaker 2:My kids are gonna hear this, I hope the listeners they will absolutely make it sick of it after five minutes. They will.
Speaker 1:Maybe one day they will. They will absolutely listen to it. The only person that doesn't listen to it is my wife. She finds me to be cringe, but she also has to hear this crap all the time, right Well?
Speaker 2:I have the same thing at home too, and I don't blame her. You know, I'm constantly saying, look at the video. I just did look at this and that is like. You know what you.
Speaker 1:God bless. Yes, that is okay. So, with that being said, I will tell you my only regret during this entire hike, I Told you to put on bug spray. I did not listen to my own advice, despite the many cans on my passenger seat. And I have been eaten alive in this humidity.
Speaker 2:I have welts, everywhere.
Speaker 1:I got that right. I call those badges of honor.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Mitch, once again, I appreciate you. Thank you for your stories.
Speaker 2:Thank you, darren, and best of luck.
Speaker 1:Next time when I took a hike, we are inspired by an uplifting personality with soundcore values. When I took a hike with Jason Elinger.